Procrastination - Keeping up with Yesterday
[ 8 Jul 2008 ]Procrastination : keeping up with yesterday: Part 1
An ancient proverb states: "It is not the size of the tree but the depth of its roots that make it strong." Procrastination usually has very deep roots. As a performance coach I come across the outcome of procrastination daily. Those who procrastinate a lot normally have deep levels of frustration, dissatisfaction and low self esteem. Procrastinators work so hard to convince themselves and those around them that they are really busy doing stuff that really matters. The reality often is that they are avoiding doing the main task or tackling their most important goal. Procrastinators never realise their aims or potential. They make excuses constantly why they are going to miss the deadline - they just have one or two more details to collect, they need to speak to another few people, they have so many other critical things fighting for their time. Procrastination is a real issue for many people. If you are a procrastinator your life will appear like a seemingly never ending battle to get things done on time. You hate things being done late and the torture you go through to get them done at all. You make promises to change but find yourself not being able to for reasons you don't understand, don't accept, or don't know what to do about. Procrastination is putting things off now - and then paying a high price later as you beat yourself up about putting it off. Generally speaking there are five main reasons for procrastination In this article we will look at the first - ‘You haven't really committed to doing the job'. In subsequent articles we will examine the others, namely: You are afraid of the job, the activity is not high enough priority for you; you are not equipped either in knowledge or resources to do it and you just don't wanna.
Reason 1: You Haven't Really Committed to Doing it
You don't generally need to prioritise or otherwise force or trick yourself into performing actions that you are internally motivated to do. When was the last time you put off doing something that really enjoyed? The more that the motivation comes from an external source, the less likely we are to do it. When coaching I find that the two following questions can provide a useful start to exploring whether it is possible for someone to gain commitment to something:
- What's in it for you if you do it?
- What will happen to you if you don't?
The first question may redirect and increase motivation. A coachee is no longer doing it because someone said they ought to. They are doing it for their own reasons, which might include: to impress a boss, help a friend, make money, or get to a task that they do really enjoy. The second question is the negative of the first. A coachees motivation may become avoidance of something unpleasant, like a negative job evaluation or appraisal., an angry, alienated spouse, or a disappointed child, for example. Fundamentally if you can find no internal motivation - no benefit for doing something and no penalty for not doing it, you may well decide not to do it at all. Deciding to take no action is significantly more empowering than procrastinating over doing something. Even if you can see a benefit to doing the job, you may still decide that the costs in time and energy (and the other things you aren't doing) outweigh the benefits. In that case you can:
1. Do what you have to do to get out of the job.
That's not the same thing as simply putting it off. This is a definitive decision not to do it and to accept the consequences, if any. In the long run, that sort of decision costs less, in time and stress, than does the passive resistance of procrastination.
2. Do it anyway - but actively seek out new and relevant reasons for doing so.
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